


The Time Max and Rafael Started School

by heartsdesire456



Series: Max Two 'Verse [10]
Category: Shadowhunters (TV)
Genre: Alternate Canon, Family Fluff, First Day of School, Gen, M/M, Parenthood, Some Humor
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-24
Updated: 2016-07-24
Packaged: 2018-07-26 12:48:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,105
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7574587
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/heartsdesire456/pseuds/heartsdesire456
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>
  <i>“We’re horrible parents,” Magnus moaned as he lay flat on his belly on the living room floor’s fluffy rug in the middle of spread out brochures for various schools. “Our children are going to be uneducated because we didn’t do this when they were younger!”</i>
</p><p> </p><p> <i>Alec just rolled his eyes from the kitchen, just able to see Magnus from where he washed dishes. “One of them has only been our child for a year, Magnus. When he was younger he wasn’t ours yet.”</i></p><p> <i>“Still! A whole year! He’s eight years old and he has never gone to school! We’ve educationally stunted our children!”</i></p><p> Or: Magnus and Alec finally have to make choices about their children's education beyond what they have been teaching them.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Time Max and Rafael Started School

**Author's Note:**

> I really wanted something light and fun after that last one, and this one is such a good, normal family issue. I mean, yeah, most families don't have this much drama enrolling their kids in school, and most of them don't have the issues with their kids such as 'warlock baby' lol, but it's still just something NORMAL for them to deal with after how heavy and scary the last one was.

Alec and Magnus had put off dealing with the kids’ education for quite a while and now, they were both regretting it. They had been teaching them themselves, trying to keep them educated for their ages, but they came to the point where they knew that they either had to actually hire tutors for them or figure out how to put them in school.

“According to this,” Isabelle said from her spot lying on the floor with Magnus’s laptop, “You need all their vital records to enroll them in public school. Which they don’t have. Neither Max or Rafael have birth certificates or … whatever S-S-N is.”

“Social security number, it’s a Mundane thing,” Magnus said with a wave of his hand. “No worries. I can forge those with magic.” He held up a brochure. “It’s a bit expensive, but maybe private school is better? Smaller class sizes means less of a chance Max might get overwhelmed by all the people and let his magic slip.”

Alec shook his head. “Magnus, it’s _very_ expensive. Hiring tutors from Idris would cost less,” he pointed out.

Magnus gave him a pointed look. “Hiring tutors from Idris who are naturally prejudiced against our warlock child is a bigger risk than private school, though,” and Alec and Isabelle both exchanged looks that said they knew he wasn’t entirely wrong. “Also, Rafael was born and raised as a Mundane before we got him,” Magnus said gently. “Tutors from Idris would expect to be training a future Shadowhunter.”

Alec raised an eyebrow. “And what if he is a future Shadowhunter?” he asked tensely and Magnus narrowed his eyes some.

“We agreed to let him decide that when the time is right.” Magnus’s voice had a hardness to it that Alec knew well meant not to push him. It wasn’t a new point of contention with them. When they first adopted Rafael, they had actually had a pretty big discussion about Rafael’s future. Alec had naturally just assumed that Rafael would be raised as a Shadowhunter, since he was a Nephilim child in the care of one of the best Shadowhunters in the city. Magnus, however, had assumed that they would raise him as a Mundane since that was how his birth parents intended his life to go. It wasn’t that Magnus didn’t want him to be a Shadowhunter, it was just that he didn’t like the idea that his child would automatically be one just because of his blood. Their agreement in the end was to wait until Rafael was eleven or twelve and let him make his own decisions about whether or not he wanted to get his Marks and begin training as a Shadowhunter.

Isabelle sat up. “Okay, so, what about Mundane private tutors?” she asked and Magnus gave her a flat look.

“Yes, have a Mundane without Sight in our house full of warlock magic. That sounds entirely safe,” he drawled, making Alec snicker. He sighed, sitting up. “We should go visit some schools. I’m thinking putting them in school is the best option.”

Alec looked over at him carefully. Alec looked into his eyes, trying to work out what Magnus was thinking, and eventually, he sighed, knowing when Magnus’s mind was made up. “Public or private?”

“Probably some of each,” Magnus decided. “I’ll have to forge homeschool papers and stuff. I mean, we have taught them about everything a child their age should be learning anyways. Might need to step up the history aspect, though,” he said with a hum. “Pretty sure they haven’t ever heard of Christopher Columbus, which might seem sort of weird to a school.”

Isabelle made a face. “Who’s Christopher Columbus?” She looked at Alec, who shrugged.

Magnus gave a dismissive wave of his hand. “Explorer the Spanish hired to find a faster route to Asia. Just one of the many explorers from a century or two before I was born. Not important. He just discovered North America for the Europeans of that time.”

Alec hummed. “Yeah, we don’t really learn Mundane history.”

“Just Shadowhunter History,” Isabelle agreed.

Magnus smiled. “The point is, however, that our little boys don’t really learn all the child-level history. They don’t really stick to the facts with kids, so they have little fun stories that the kids haven’t ever learned. And I’ve pretty much stuck with ‘here, let’s read a story and learn from it’ and ‘this is how math works’ when I teach the boys things.”

Alec hummed. “You know… I’m probably gonna be really bad at helping with homework,” he said with a bashful look. “I probably don’t know half the things Mundane kids learn.”

“Awww, it’s okay, Darling,” Magnus said, reaching up to run his fingers through Alec’s hair. “I’m the one that spends more time hanging out with them and I’ve been alive long enough to know a lot of this stuff. You can continue to be the domestic parent who cleans and cooks and goes to work every day and puts up with me letting the kids get away with everything.”

Alec narrowed his eyes, bumping their shoulders together. “You do make it hard to discipline them when you help them hide it when they do stuff they shouldn’t,” he accused and Magnus batted his eyelashes at him.

“But Alexander, you don’t see their little faces!”

“Yes I do, I’m just better at resisting the adorableness,” he teased.

Magnus sighed, leaning his head on Alec’s shoulder. “You’re right. I’m just a pushover. But when they get sad it breaks my heart! I can’t discipline them without wanting to smack myself in the face.”

Alec rolled his eyes, but turned and kissed Magnus’s forehead. “You’re so cute it’s frustrating, I hope you know that.”

“Yup! Sure do,” he said, tilting his chin up to kiss Alec with a quick ‘smack’. “You love me more for how much you wanna strangle me sometimes.”

Alec nodded seriously. “Exactly.” He cracked a smile and threw his arm around Magnus, pulling him into his side. “Alright. Let’s start picking schools to go visit. Make sure we like the place before we send our kids there.”

~

The first school the picked seemed nice when they set up a meeting with the principal of the school. It was a private school not far from their home, and it seemed like a pretty great fit.

Right up until they got to the principal’s office and were immediately bombarded with crosses. Everywhere, there were crosses. All over the office. “Oh,” Alec said slowly. “We weren’t… aware this was a religious school,” he said, trying to not reveal how unnerved he was by the artwork around the office.

The principal looked around and adjusted her glasses. “Absolutely! We strive to ensure that the children are given a diverse, comprehensive education that is built on a strong Christian foundation. Often, lessons are reinforced with a connection to Biblical teachings. Also on Wednesday mornings, the children have Chapel before class begins.”

Magnus and Alec exchanged a look, and Magnus gave a polite laugh as he faced her once more. “Dr. Williams,” he began, rubbing his hands together in his lap. “You… do realize that we are a married couple, not relatives or something,” he said with a tentative tilted of his head. “As in same-sex marriage.”

“That’s no bother,” she reassured. “The world has changed in many ways and it’s entirely normal for gay and lesbian parents to also want to raise their children with a strong Christian foundation. After all, Jesus did say ‘Judge not’.” She held her hands out in a welcoming gesture. “Friends, are we not all sinners anyways?”

Alec gave a panicked little giggle as he looked to Magnus. “Yeah, sure.”

Magnus just cleared his throat, lips pressed together as he clearly tried not to express anything too concrete, and he reached out to pat Alec’s knee comfortingly. “Of course.”

~

“Seriously, Izzy, I’m talking ‘a vampire would die walking past this doorway’ amount of crosses. I’ve got nothing wrong with somebody being religious, but that was like some really scary shit! And all the classrooms were just the same! Crosses everywhere! It was really freaking me out!” Magnus just snickered as he heard Alec on the phone with his sister while he took every sheet of the information packet Dr. Williams had given them and tossed them in the garbage.

~

The first public school they went to was also the last, because their meeting was scheduled for right after the school day started, and the moment they arrived, one of the kids milling around on the steps called out to Alec and, when he walked closer, the kid _showed him a bag of pot_ inside his backpack and asked if he wanted to buy some.

Magnus just grabbed Alec’s hand and immediately turned around to leave. “Nope. Ten year old selling marijuana at the front steps is all I need to tell me this isn’t the right fit.”

~

Magnus was examining the booklet the woman from Admissions gave them as they followed her around the halls with wide eyes. “Wow, Alexander, they teach _engineering_ to the children. Very important sounding math forms, modern art, a philosophical approach to literature, oooh ‘social emotional’ curriculum. Look, they make sure to focus on compassion and individuality and responsibility and stuff. How cool is that!” He pointed to one of the lines. “And look! The student-teacher ratio is five to one.”

Alec stopped walking and Magnus stopped as well, looking up at him, only to see a startled look in Alec’s eyes as he snatched the booklet from Magnus, eyes growing wider. “Holy fucking shit!” Magnus flushed when the tour guide turned around in shock, giving them a very disapproving look.

“Alec,” Magnus hissed, and Alec wordlessly shoved the booklet into his hands, pointing at something on one of the pages. Magnus leaned in and saw Alec was pointing out the tuition and- “Ahh!” Magnus actually yelped and dropped the book when he saw the price listed. “Is there any chance that there is a typo and that’s an extra zero on the tuition?” he asked no one in particular. “There is no way it costs that much per year!”

“Oh no, of course not,” the tour guide said with a smile. Magnus and Alec both relaxed some and she raised an eyebrow. “That’s per month.”

Magnus was pretty sure he would’ve fainted on the spot if Alec hadn’t let loose another blue streak that ended up getting them asked to leave the premises.

~

“We’re horrible parents,” Magnus moaned as he lay flat on his belly on the living room floor’s fluffy rug in the middle of spread out brochures. “Our children are going to be uneducated because we didn’t do this when they were younger!”

Alec just rolled his eyes from the kitchen, just able to see Magnus from where he washed dishes. “One of them has only been our child for a year, Magnus. When he was younger he wasn’t ours yet.”

“Still! A whole year! He’s eight years old and he has never gone to school! We’ve educationally stunted our children!” Magnus called out. “And Max is six, he should’ve started school at least a year ago already, but we put it off because we’re horrible, selfish parents who just want our babies to ourselves.” Alec grinned, shaking his head as Magnus continued to be dramatic. “I want my children to do well in life and we’ve left them undereducated!” He gave a dramatic whimper. “Aleeeeeeeeeec. Why do we suck?”

“Because I’m gay and you’re my husband,” Alec replied, listening for the sound of frustration Magnus would inevitably make at him for making a joke out of his complaining.

“You, Alexander Lightwood-Bane, are a terrible person for making a sex joke out of our failures as parents.” Alec just smirked, chuckling to himself when he heard the reluctant amusement in Magnus’s voice.

Alec finished the last dish and dried his hands before walking out into the living room. Magnus looked up at him without lifting his cheek from the carpet and Alec squatted down beside him, tilting his head so they were looking the same direction. “Magnus, do you plan to lie there all night?”

“Maybe,” Magnus mumbled petulantly, though his big brown eyes suggested he just wanted to complain a bit longer because he was feeling down on himself. 

Alec knew Magnus’s guilty eyes very well. 

Alec scooted some of the brochures aside and lay down on his back beside Magnus, crossing his arms beneath his head. “Well, if you’re going to wallow in guilt, I may as well join you.”

Magnus heaved a sigh of annoyance but slowly shuffled closer until he could rest his hand on Alec’s middle and lift his cheek onto Alec’s bicep. “What are we going to do, Alec? We can’t afford the best schools but the public schools have ten year old drug dealers,” he bemoaned with a pout.

“There are other private schools that don’t cost _that_ much, Magnus.” Alec turned his head and pressed his lips against Magnus’s hair. “We just have to find a school that works for our family. We have not ruined our children’s futures by being slow on finding them a good school. We just have a very unconventional life. Honestly, I’m not sure at four years old I would’ve wanted to send Max to school in case he lost control of his glamor,” he said as an example.

“I just want them to get a good education,” Magnus said in a tiny voice that made Alec realize how seriously guilty Magnus felt about all of this. “In this century, in this lifetime, I want my children to have every opportunity outside the Shadow World. I never had a choice of living life outside of summoning demons for money or selling potions to the rich and vain. I know I could change that, and maybe one day I will, but I’m the High Warlock of Brooklyn. For now, I’ve settled in my ways.” He shook his head. “But even being what we all are, Max and Rafael could choose to go to college and be something entirely Mundane and I want them to have that choice. Look at Caterina,” he said, rubbing at Alec’s stomach absently. “She’s a licensed nurse. She went through _nursing school_ just so that she could honestly and fairly treat patients while also using her magic to help them even more. Max could do that if he wanted to focus on learning healing magic, you know?” He smiled when Alec pulled back enough to meet his eyes. “I want a good education for him in case he wants to grow up and be a nurse or even a doctor. And Rafael, he’s so kind and gentle, he could be an incredible teacher if he wanted to. But they need a good education in the Mundane world to have that option open for them. And I feel like I’ve failed my babies by not thinking about all of this sooner.”

Alec sighed and nodded. “I know what you mean, but it’s going to be okay. I promise.”

~

The school was perfect.

Magnus already knew by the time they returned from their tour to the principal’s office that this was the school he wanted his children to attend. The woman who greeted them was the same woman they had just watched shake hands with every single child who entered the school doors when their parents dropped them off. She greeted every single one by name, even though, just in the amount of time before their schedule appointment that Magnus and Alec waited outside, easily over one hundred students walked through the doors. 

She had immediately taken them on a tour of the school, which was pretty small to house both the elementary and middle grades, and showed them all of the various classrooms. It was a small enrollment school, so the student to teacher ratio was ten to one, which was perfect in Magnus’s opinion. Their focus was on bringing _joy_ into learning so that the children remained engaged and got excited to learn new things. Their schedule for the day for the elementary school aged children was to start the day reading stories together, then go play with blocks to stimulate problem solving skills, then go straight into interactive science classes where the kids got to practice hands-on experiments rather than just do worksheets from a text book, break for lunch time and then recess and sports time, only to come back inside for math that the teachers tailored for each students strengths rather than make them all learn the exact same way. They finished off the day with various arts to build creativity, and the thing that impressed Alec the most, the last thing they did was learn and practice playing chess so that their day ended in a fun, social, and mentally stimulating game just before their parents picked them up to go home.

“I love it,” Magnus said simply, smiling over at Alec. “What do you think?”

Alec nodded, smiling tentatively. “I really think this would be a great fit for them both,” he agreed.

Charlotte, as the principal insisted they call her, smiled encouragingly. “And like I said, the tuition is on a sliding scale, based on income, so we can work with your budget,” she reminded them. “There’s an after school program if you both work and can’t pick them up when the regular school day ends and need a few more hours. And if you do have time to participate more, we take the students on field study excursions all the time and invite parents to chaperone, so you’re welcome to tag along on days your child’s class has those.”

“My only real worry is about how advanced the curriculum is,” Alec said hesitantly. “I love it, but… I don’t want the boys to be so overwhelmed that they freeze up at the start.” He reached out for Magnus, who squeezed his hand. “You see, Charlotte, our boys… they have unique situations that are both different.”

Charlotte nodded seriously. “Of course. Tell me a bit about your children,” she said understandingly. 

Alec went first. “I took custody of our youngest, Max, when he was six months old. His mother entirely disappeared from the picture and I was a young single father living with my brother and sister,” he said, twisting the story to fit a Mundane’s life. “Because of that, when it came to child care, I just took turns with my brother and sister. Whoever wasn’t working took care of Max while I was working, and that continued until I met my husband.” He smiled over at Magnus. “And then it was still just more of the same, Magnus started helping care for Max whenever I couldn’t watch him myself. Because of this, the only child Max ever interacted for the first five years of his life was my little brother, and he’s nine years older than Max.” He grimaced. “And even then, he doesn’t live here in New York so that’s very rarely.” He shook his head. “I never enrolled him in daycare or pre-school and as we said, the kids have been home-schooled the past year. I wasn’t sure how Max would interact with other children until we adopted Rafael because he was just so shy around strangers and it was easier to just keep him home.”

“And Rafael…” Magnus looked at Alec, who squeezed his hand. “Rafael proved us wrong about Max, Max had no problems playing with him and interacting with him so quickly. Within weeks they were brothers as if they were born as such. But Rafael only came to us because we took him in as emergency foster parents after he was rescued from an abusive life,” Magnus said gravely. “Rafael was seven when we got him, and he had never gone to school before that. He suffered pretty terrible abuse for a few years, and it was incredible to see how beautifully he began to recover when we did get him. At first, it was just a temporary, emergency solution, but we had him for several weeks and Max loved him so much, and we adored him, so when we were given the option to adopt him ourselves, we were happier than you could possibly imagine,” he said with a loving smile at the memory. “But, because of all he suffered, we chose to home-school the kids. We didn’t want to throw so much upheaval into his life and Max needed to learn to interact with other children, so over the past year that we’ve had both sons, it was easier to just… ignore the fact that we weren’t giving them the best education,” he admitted.

Alec nodded. “We just worry that they aren’t up to the standard of the other children in their age groups here. I don’t want them to feel like they aren’t good enough.”

Charlotte gave them both an understanding look. “I know how difficult some situations are, and I am so sorry your son suffered so much in his short little life,” she said very seriously. “While most people would just suggest starting them both out in lower grades than their age group, I have great news for you,” she said with a small smile. “Our teachers are skilled at recognizing individual needs of every student. With such small classes, it would be no more difficult to give extra attention to the needs your boys have than it is for every student. I would bet on the teachers assigning extra stuff for you guys to go over with the children, and the school therapist will probably want to monitor their social progress, but as long as you guys have done your best and taught your children the basics, I promise you, we can get your children to the level the rest of the kids are on,” she said with a comforting look. “It sounds like you have very strong, brave children, and kids are very resilient. They can learn so much so fast and retain it in ways our brains couldn’t even begin to fathom. Their little brains are miracles of nature and at their ages, they’re in the prime years of catching up and retaining knowledge.”

“Oh that’s for sure,” Magnus said with a loving thought. “Rafael didn’t speak English when we got him. By now, his vocabulary is basically as good as Max’s. Only a year later and he’s fluent.” He smiled over at Alec. “Even their dad here doesn’t have that claim to his name and he’s had his whole life to practice his mothers’ Spanish.”

“See there?” Charlotte said with a grin. “Kids learn and retain at such a quick rate at their age. I’m sure we could get them up to the level of their classmates within the first two months, and even with their stunted social development, the fact your family has spent so much time and attention on them means that they probably have had all the stimulation they need for their little brains to develop physically to retain knowledge. Adaptation is the one thing children are the masters of, so I wouldn’t be too worried about them fitting in. We strive to make sure the children in our classes really enjoy school, so even those who may be a bit behind won’t feel left out, they will just have even more fun with something new to them. Making learning fun for them is absolutely the most important part of successful education.”

Alec let out a relieved breath and when Magnus looked over at him with a bright smile, Alec nodded. “I think we would like to begin the application process,” Alec decided as a smile spread across his face.

Magnus squeezed his hand tightly, positively beaming as he turned back to Charlotte. “Yeah, I think so, too.”

“Excellent!” Charlotte said brightly. “I can’t wait to meet Max and Rafael.”

~

Alec and Magnus had expected more of a reaction when they sat Max and Rafael down to tell them that they had been accepted into and would soon begin school, but both boys seemed entirely at ease with that information.

“Oh, okay,” Max said, and Rafael nodded.

“Cool.”

Magnus raised an eyebrow. “That’s it? ‘Cool’? You aren’t interested in why you’re going to school or where or worried about… anything?”

Max and Rafael exchanged a look and then both of them just shrugged. Magnus threw his hands up, looking over at Alec, who had also expected fireworks and confusion and probably some tears. Alec just huffed in amusement. “Sometimes I think we worry too much,” he said and Magnus just nodded with an eye roll.

~

While the kids were entirely fine starting school (though Max wasn’t so thrilled with the collared shirt of his new uniform and kept pulling on it), Alec and Magnus were both pretty much freaking out. When they brought the kids to school on their first day, Magnus took a deep breath looking at the building from across the street. He had a hold of both boys’ hands, and he knew that Alec could see how his hands were shaking, which was only fair because Alec was paler than usual. “Alright. Here we go,” Alec said, taking the first step to lead them all across the street, holding Max’s little hand as they made a little family line. 

Charlotte was greeting students at the door when they arrived, and when she saw them, she waved and stepped aside to kneel down in front of the boys. “Hi guys! I’m Ms. Charlotte,” she said, holding out her hand to each of them. “Now, which one is Max and which is Rafael?” she asked with a kind smile.

“I’m Max!” Max said excitedly and she caught his little hand, shaking it like he was an adult.

“Well it’s wonderful to meet you, Max.”

Rafael waved to her with a shy little smile. “I’m Rafael.”

“Hi there, Rafael,” she said, taking his hand to shake it as well. “It’s so great that you guys are going to be joining us. Now,” she glanced up at Alec and Magnus. “I don’t know if your parents told you, but I’m going to take you guys to meet your teachers and your classmates this morning.” She stood up again. “Will you gentlemen be coming to meet the kids’ teachers with us, or would it be easier for you guys to just let me take care of it?”

Alec took a breath and smiled as he saw the tense look on Magnus’s face. “We decided we will wait to meet their teachers when we pick them up today. So we don’t embarrass them in front of their new classmates,” he said with a chuckle and Magnus nodded, lips pressed together to keep his composure. 

“Very understandable,” she said with a knowing look.

“Alright guys,” Magnus said, squatting down in front of them. “You guys have everything?” he asked them, and they both nodded, bouncing their little backpacks. 

Alec crouched down as well, reaching out to put a hand on Max’s shoulder. “You remember what we told you, right? Papa reminded you how to stay calm,” he said pointedly, since he couldn’t very welly say ‘Remember Papa’s pin in your pocket to clip to your shirt if your glamor starts slipping and you need help with it’.

“Yes, Dad,” he said and Alec smiled.

He reached out for Rafael. “And remember, your teacher knows that you’ve only learned English in the past year. If you have any problems, she will help you,” he reminded him and Rafael nodded.

“Okay, Dad.”

Magnus let out a heavy sigh. “Oh my babies,” he said, pulling them both into a hug. He kissed both of their faces. “Be good, okay? Make sure you listen to your teachers and be sweet to the other kids and don’t be scared, because all the other kids were new at one point, too.”

“Papa,” Max said, rolling his eyes. “We’re fine!”

Rafael laughed. “It’s gonna be fun, Papa!”

Magnus rolled his eyes. “Of course, it will. I don’t know why I bother. You are your dad’s children, that’s for sure,” he said, standing up with one last kiss to the tops of each of their heads. “I love you, okay? I’ll be back right when school lets out to pick you guys up.”

“We both will,” Alec said firmly, pulling each boy into a hug. “Love you, and love you,” he said to each of them before standing up to grab Magnus’s hand firmly as they both looked down at their boys.

Charlotte put a hand on each boy’s backs. “Alright, guys. Say goodbye to your papa and dad. Your classmates are all excited to meet you.”

“Bye, Papa! Bye, Dad!” Max said excitedly, waving at the both, and Rafael waved too.

“ _Hasta luego_.”

When both boys disappeared into the school building, already chattering away with Charlotte about how excited they were, Alec pulled Magnus into a hug, pressing his face into Magnus’s shoulder. “Crap. I’m so unprepared for this,” Alec mumbled in a tearful voice, and Magnus laughed wetly, curling his arms around Alec’s shoulders to kiss his hair.

“You and me both, Buddy.” He closed his eyes, letting a few tears fall. “How the hell do your parents just leave Max with his tutors and fuck off to another country? We get to pick them up in less than seven hours and this sucks so bad.”

“Yeah, well, I think we established long ago my parents are very different than us,” Alec said, voice muffled by Magnus’s shirt. “I hate everything about this even though it’s what I want so I’m just very conflicted right now.”

“I know, Darling,” Magnus said, rubbing his back comfortingly. “Come on. Let’s go to the Institute and see if there’s any work they need me to do so this day goes by faster.”

Alec laughed wetly and nodded. “Yeah, okay.” He stood straight and wiped at his eyes. “They’ll be okay, right?”

Magnus nodded, rubbing his eyes as well. “Oh they’ll be fine. The little shits.”

Alec snickered and slid his arm around Magnus’s shoulders, kissing his cheek. Magnus just slid his arm around Alec’s waist, leaning into his side as they walked across the street and headed for the alley across the street so that Magnus could make them a portal.

If, while Magnus worked on the portal, Alec set a count-down on his phone until three, nobody had to know about that.


End file.
